It is ironical that Kenya boasts of agriculture being the backbone of the economy, yet it is not taught in primary school. Even in secondary school it is an optional subject. Its lessons were reduced from five to four per week for Form 3 and 4 students, and from four to three for their counterparts in Forms 1 and 2. Double lessons, which are essential for practicals, were scrapped altogether.
Examination setting pushes students to other technical subjects such as Business Studies and Home Science. In Section A, for instance, students have to answer 60 questions to earn 30 marks, while in other subjects each answer carries a full mark. The message the education policymakers are sending is that agriculture is not important as a subject and a career.
In developed countries schoolgoing children visit local farms to learn and appreciate where their food comes from. In our case, this would not be necessary as farming takes place in most homesteads, though we could have practical contests or agricultural shows for schools. We could even change the name of the subject to Agribusiness and ban making learners work on the school farm as punishment, which depicts agriculture as backward.
In a recent survey by Manpower, it was observed that fewer students are taking agriculture-related courses in tertiary institutions compared to other subjects. But why would a student study a subject that they don’t have thorough introduction to? Studying agriculture at an early age will make learners appreciate agriculture’s role in the economy and arouse further interest in the subject.
The government ought to make deliberate efforts to increase the enrolment of young people in agriculture courses. This tech-savvy generation could harness technology and revolutionise entire food systems from production to post-harvest handling and marketing.
As a parliamentary candidate in the August 8, 2017, General Election, I piloted the idea of school farms in one of the driest wards in Murang’a county — Kambiti. We trained upper primary pupils on global goals for sustainable development. We would donate quality vegetable seeds to their school farms, which do well.
The idea was to spark some interest in children in agriculture. The produce would be used to supplement school feeding programmes as pupils miss school days due to hunger. According to the World Bank, growth in agriculture is four times more effective in reducing poverty compared to other sectors. The figure could be eight times or higher in Sub-Saharan Africa.
Policymakers are blaming youth for shying away from agriculture and seeking white-collar jobs only. This is placing the cart before the horse. Agriculture remains the surest path to prosperity for Africa. With the youth comprising 65 per cent of the population, they are a key resource, which if tapped into could make the difference between success and failure.
As the world grapples with how to feed almost 10 billion people by 2050, the youth, especially in Africa, are a key resource. One way to prepare them for this challenge is to introduce them to agriculture as early as possible in schools. It is not too late to introduce the subject before the complete roll-out of the competency- based curriculum in primary schools.
With the death of 4K clubs in schools and food security and nutrition being high on the agenda locally and globally, it’s time to reintroduce agriculture as a compulsory subject in primary and secondary schools.